し LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. HISTORY OF ACADEMIES. ART. 1. ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, AT BERLIN. Aug. 9. The following questions were propofed at the meeting of the academy-1. As the labours of the ableft aftronomers have left feveral points to be cleared up with respect to the change of the obliquity of the ecliptic, the academy invites the learned, to investigate the fubject anew, and will adjudge the prize to that effay, which shall contain the most important inquiries concerning it. This question was propofed for the prefent year, but the academy received only one paper in answer to it, with the motto tamen ufque recurret, which contains many interefting conclufions, but the fhortness of the time did not allow the author to enter fufficiently into the difcuffion of what is properly his own. In confequence it is proposed anew for the year 1802, with a double prize [100 duc. or £45.]. As aftonomers appear not to be unanimous with regard to the obfervations made refpecting the obliquity of the ecliptic, the academy wishes thefe obfervations to be examined with care, as well as how far the ancient observations may be advantageously employed, and to what period we may go back for them. With refpect to the theory, one of the most important elements unquestionably is, to determine the quantity of matter in the planets that affect it, especially in Venus. It is particularly to be inquired, how the quantity of matter in Venus may be determined from à confideration of the movement of the nodes, notwithstanding the difficulties arising from the mobility of the ecliptic: how a smaller quantity of matter, than is affigned to Venus by Mr. de la Grange, will agree with the movement of the fun's apogee, with which it appears to be inconfiftent according to the formula of this great mathematician: and, laftly, how far Herschel's obfervations of the fatellites of Uranus are fufficient, to determine the mafs of this planet. The application of the general folution of the problem would be fo much the more advantageous, if none of the planets were left out of confideration, as then the equations arising from it might be compared with thofe, which Mr. de la Grange has obtained from his folution. And here the queftion fuggefted by himfelf might be examined; namely, whether, let the maffes of the planets be what they may, fuppofing them only to exift, the equations would always have poitive and unequal roots. With regard to the determination of the mean values, maxima and minima, periods of change, &c., if a direct method of afcertaining them be offered, it will be neceffary, confidering the extreme complication of analytical expreffions, that the author enter into a precife expofition, with great accuracy: if they be determined only by repeated trials (ratonnement), it is required, that the author at leaft bring proofs a pofteriori, that the refults found are liable to no doubt. The academy is far from expecting, however, that all these defiderata fhould be fully and com VOL. XXVIII. Nn pletely pletely fupplied; but will award the prize to that effay, which, on a fubject to difficult, fhall give new and fatisfactory conclufions refpecting fome of the articles only: the extent given to the queftion being intended merely, to open a wider field to aftronomers and mathematicians. 2. Had the goths, as a distinguished nation, among those that overturned the declining roman power, any thing peculiar, either in government, laws, manners, and customs, or in literature and the arts in particular? Are the terms gothic, and gothicifm, any thing more than words of later fabrication, to defignate the fate of art and science fince the fall of the roman empire through the middle age; and, if not, when did they begin to be in general ufe in this fenfe? 3. As it is decided, that the carbone, contained in the ordinary animal and vegetable manures, is one of the chief principles conducive to the nutrition of plants, What fubftances are there, which may fupply the place of the ufual manure in agriculture, and be employed, in defect of it, with equally effential advantage, to promote vegetation? It is requested, that the answer to this may not be founded on theory alone, but on accurate experiments. 4. By what proceffes, and from what feeds, as thofe of flax, poppy, the fun-flower, and other oleaginous feeds, which may be procured in this country without any great expense, or eafily cultivated in large quantities, may an oil be obtained with advantage, which will fupply the place of olive oil, and keep a confiderable time without spoiling? As the goodnels and qualities of expreffed oils depend not merely on the feed, from which they are procured, hut in great measure on the process by which they are obtained, it is expected, that particular attention be paid to this. The prize for the 2d question is 50 duc. [£22 10s.], for the 3d and 4th 100 r. [£16 13s. 4d.] each, and the anfwers to them muft be fent before the 1ft of may, 1800; as those for the first must before the ift of may, 1802. THEOLOGY. ART. II. Leipfic. De adornanda N. T. Verfione vere latina, &c. A grammatico-theological Effay on the Execution of a genuine Latin Verfion of the New Teftament, to which are added fome Specimens. By H. Jef. Reichard, A. M. &c. 8vo. 156 pages. 1796. Mr. R., a scholar of Ernefti, withes for a verfion of the New Testament, fuch as would have been understood, and acknowledged to be good latin, in the age of Auguftus. His obfervations on the requifites for fuch a purpofe, and his fpecimens, which are Matt. xiv, Mark vii, Luke xi, John xi, A&ts xvi, the Epistle to the Galatians, Hebrews xi, the 2d Epiftle of Peter, and Revelations xii, xiii, evince his critical skill, and will be read with pleasure by the lovers of pure latinity; though, while we confess in fome of his interpretations he is very happy, we cannot agree with him in all. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. ECCLE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. ART. III. Leipfic. Verfuch einer pragmatischen Gefchichte der kirchlichen Verfaffungsformen, &c. Sketch of a philofophical History of the Conftitutions of the Church in the first fix Centuries. By Dr. Werner C. L. Ziegler. 8vo. 416 pages. 1798. Mr. Z., in giving a general view of the progrefs of ecclefiaftical government for fix centuries, without entering into minute particulars, difplays an intimate acquaintance with his fubject, and much that is juft, as well as new, will be found in his manner of treating it. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. MEDICINE, ART. IV. Munich. Was hat die heutige Arzneykunde von den Bemübungen einiger Naturforscher, &c. What has modern Medicine gained from the Endeavours of fome natural Philofophers and Phyficians, within thefe fifty Years, with refpect to the Application of Electricity to Difeafes on folid Principles? Answered on the 28th of March, at a public Meeting of the Electoral Bavarian Academy of Sciences. By Maximus Imhof. 4to. 79 pages. 1796. Father I. has here given an accurate history of medical electricity, and thence deduced how far it is of ufe in the healing art, with the general rules for it's application. It is injurious in fthenic difeafes; where great irritability fucceeds a ftate of torpor and debility; and where there is a preternatural flow of the fluids to a part from local ftimulus. On the contrary, it is useful in all afthenic diseases; particularly fuch as are attended with diminished irritability, even though immoderate action may occur periodically, or there may be a period ical increase of irritability in any particular part. The gentleft modes of applying it are best; ftrong thocks having more frequently proved injurious than beneficial, and being admiffible only where the irritability is greatly diminished. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit, MIDWIFERY. ART, V. Jena. Neues Archiv für die Geburtshülfe, &c. New Repofitory for Midwifery, and the Difeafes of Women and Children, with refpect to Phyfiology, Dietetics, and Surgery. By J. Chrift. Starck, M. Prof &c. Vol. I, No. I. 8vo. 192 pa. 2 plates. 1798. Prof. S. had closed his former Repofitory [fee our Rev. Vol. I, p. 241], with the 6th vol.; but having been folicited to revive it by french, german, and italian phyficians, he has at length done fo, giving the plan a little more extent, and printing the work in a roman letter on a fomewhat larger page. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. PHARMACY AND MATERIA MEDICA. ART. VI. Gottingen. Prof. Arnemann has published a fecond edition of his practical Materia Medica [fee our Rev. Vol. XI, p, 232], with confiderable additions and corrections, Nnz NATURAL NATURAL HISTORY. ART. VII. Paris. Hiftoire Naturelle des Poiffons, &c. The Natural Hiftory of Fishes, by Cit. la Cépède. Vol. I. 4to. 679 pages. 25 plates. 6 [1798.] This admirable work is written perfectly in the style of the author's Natural Hiftory of Serpents and Amphibia. An introduction of 147 pages contains general obfervations on the nature of fishes, their anatomy and phyfiology. This is followed by the nomenclature, and a fyftematic table; from which the author proceeds to describe the genera and fpecies. The present volume gives us two new genera, and thirty new fpecies: but the whole work will exhibit near three hundred fpecies never before defcribed. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. ART. VIII. Paris. Hiftoire Naturelle des Singes, &c. The Natural Hiftory of Apes, delineated from Nature, by J. B. Audebert, Member of the Society of Natural Hiftory at Paris. Fol. No. I. and II. Price of each 30 f. [15] 6 [1798.] We know of no plates, that may be any way compared with thefe, for accurate reprefentation of nature, delicacy in the drawing and engraving, and truth of colouring: but the author is much greater as an artift, than as a natural hiftorian, and the text is in general very meagre, with few fynonimes, and those often erroneous. BOTANY. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. ART. IX. Gotha, and Paris. Mufcologia recentiorum, &c. Modern Mufcology, or a methodical Analyfis, Hiftory, and Description of all the more perfect Moffes hitherto known, according to the Syftem of Hedwig, by S. E. Bridel. Vol. II. Part I. 4to. 224 p. 6 plates. 1798. Mr. B. has done much toward increafing our knowledge of moffes, particularly by his journey to Paris, where every thing, that can in any way be procured, is collected. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. COMMERCE. AT. x. Hamburg. J. G. Büfch Zufätze zu feiner theoretisch-praktifchen Darstellung der Handlung, &c. J. G. Büfch's Additions to his Theoretico-practical View of Commerce in it's various Branches. Vol. 1. 8vo. 310 p. 1797. In thefe additions Mr. B. farther elucidates feveral subjects contained in his valuable work on trade [noticed in our Rev. Vol. xx111, P. 447]. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. AGRICULTURE. ART. XI. Frankfort on the Main. Ueber die Anlegung einer Obfarangerie in Scherben, &c. On the Formation of a Fruit-Garden in Pots and the Vegetation of Plants by Aug. Fred. Adrian Diel, with 3 Plates, and a Catalogue of Fruit-Trees. 8vo. 492 p. 1798. We have already noticed Mr. D.'s Inftructions for raising Fruit in Pots [fee our Rev. Vol. xxv1, p. 421], of which this is an improved edition. At the fame time Mr. D. has added fome general observations on the phyfiology of plants, and on the management and improvement of fruit-trees in the common garden, which enhance the value of the work. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. PHILOSOPHY. ART. XII. Leipfic. Philofophifche Verfuche über Gegenstande des Moral und Pädagogik, &c. Philofophical Effays on Subjects of Education and Morals, by C. Jef. Bauer. 8vo. 382 p. 1797. Thefe effays deliver ufeful truths, in a convincing, not dazzling manner. The firft, which obtained an accefit from the Society of ufeful Arts and Sciences at Utrecht, is on the fubject of education [fee our Rev. Vol. v11, p. 465]. Mr. B. prefers a mode of education, in which public and private fhall cooperate together. The 2d is On ennobling the inclinations, with a view to diminish human mifery. The 3d, On the influence of the moral cultivation of man, on the cultivation and excitement of his natural powers. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. ART. XIII. Zullichau. Populäre Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der praktischen Philofophie, &c. Effays on Subjects of Practical Philofophy, written with a View to familiarize the Mind to the Ideas of Kant, by J. Chrift. Greiling. 8vo. 207 p. 1797. The object of Mr. G. is, to give fome notion of Kant's fyftem to thofe, whose other ftudies will not allow them fufficient leifure to examine it with that deliberation, necessary to make themfelves mafters of it, as lawyers, phyficians, and divines. The effays are: 1, On the influence that family fpirit, or the prevailing way of thinking, acting, and feeling, obfervable in a family, has on morals, and the good of mankind: : 2, The golden age: 3, On weakness of character: 4, On the affinity between the fenfe of phyfical and moral beauty: 5, On the value of a pofitive religion: 6, On the difference between prudence and morality, and between the rules of prudence and the rules of duty. The first three of thefe difplay moft merit. The thoughts on female education in the firft effay are excellent, though not strictly. in their place. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. CLASSICAL LITERATURE. ART. XIV. Leipfic. Antiquitatum botanicarum Specimen, &c. The Botany of the Ancients: Effay the firft: by Kurt Sprengel, M. D. Prof. of Phyfic and Botany at Hall. Small 4to. 120 p. 2 plates. 1798. Prof. S. deferves encouragement and approbation for this endeavour, to afcertain the plants mentioned in several paffages of the ancients; though we think his method in fome refpects not the best, that might have been adopted. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. Nn3 ART. |